How to safely downgrade to Mavericks from Yosemite without losing programs.

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Level 1

5 points

How to safely downgrade to Mavericks from Yosemite without losing programs.

Hi there,

So I previously owned an early 2009 13" macbook pro and have upgraded to a mid 2012 15" retina macbook pro for the hardware. It inconveniently (for me) came with Yosemite on it. I had plenty of backups from the previous macbook but ignorantly migrated all my programs and files onto the new OS from a time machine backup. I was happy until I started running my audio programs such as Pro Tools and Ableton. First I noticed problems with the Midi implementation/compatibility then countless other bugs until I realized my version of Pro Tools wasn't compatible with Yosemite. I'm now in the situation where I need to downgrade back to Mavericks to preserve stability as I can't afford to buy not only my programs, but all my plugins in a new format again along with stability with my video editing programs, a few games, etc. etc. Now the strange part is, that I seem to have lost a lot of my Time Machine backups from that time. I have switched physical hard drives, but thought I had copied absolutely everything onto the new bigger one. There's a possibility I'd accidentally done that incorrectly but I'm not sure. I had, for some time, turned off Time machine, but I wouldn't imagine that would erase my old backups, would it? Long story short: I now only have backups from Yosemite where all the programs are installed correctly and working, but some are incompatible.

So my question is: How can I downgrade back to Mavericks, but on my new computer, and keep all my programs intact? I don't have the installers for a few of them such as Final Cut Pro 7, Final Cut Pro 9, and the entire Adobe suite. As far as I can see all my personal files are safe. I already have a Mavericks bootable usb drive made.

Many thanks,

Alex

I already have a Mavericks USB boot drive and am prepared to partition my mac's HD into Yosemite for my personal files and Mavericks for my programs that are incompatible with Yosemite if that would be fast enough and safe (all my programs would stay intact).

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), null

Posted on May 21, 2015 6:29 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 21, 2015 6:36 PM in response to almix12

Boot from the USB flash drive using OPTION booting. When the menubar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

Partition and Format the hard drive:

After Disk Utility loads select your hard drive (this is the out-dented entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the Disk Utility main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit Disk Utility and return to installer.
Be sure to select your hard drive from the list of destinations.
Click on the Install button and follow instructions.

Note that downgrading will require erasing the drive. If you have files you wish to save, then you should first make a backup before doing the above.

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Answer 2

almix12 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 22, 2015 7:45 AM in response to Kappy

Hi, Thanks a lot for your reply.

I just have a couple of questions to clarify. Since the main goal of this is that I'm looking to save all my programs compatible with Mavericks but not Yosemite, do I follow your instructions to install a fresh version of Mavericks and then use my Yosemite Time Machine backup to restore my programs? Will it allow me to do this while having a Mavericks OS installed? Or how then, once I've backed up everything and then installing a fresh Mavericks, do I restore my programs?

Thanks again for the reply,

Alex

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,057 points

May 22, 2015 10:03 AM in response to almix12

You should be able to restore from Time Machine.

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Answer 4

May 22, 2015 10:22 AM in response to almix12

Unfortunately the new MacBook can't downgrade to mavericks. You can't install a previous os on a mac. You will always be able to install later os - if it meets the requirements - but not a previous one. Example Macbook came with 10.7 you can install 10.8/10.9/10.10 etc but can't install 10.6.

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 22, 2015 1:09 PM in response to Community User

The new computer is from 2012, so it can be downgraded. You need to phrase your remark more carefully. You cannot install a version of OS X that precedes the version that was originally installed on the computer when it was new. This is not universally true, however. There are overlap releases of hardware that can boot from the immediately previous version of OS X. An example is the late 2011 iMac that came with Lion installed, but could be booted from a 10.6.6 or later version of Snow Leopard.

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Answer 6

May 22, 2015 2:01 PM in response to Kappy

Your right about that for some reason I thought it was a 2015 model. This situation just stresses the importance of verifying that your software is compatible before just upgrading. Also backup backup and verify said backups.

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 22, 2015 2:04 PM in response to Community User

Agreed. 😀

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Answer 8

Apr 2, 2016 9:50 AM in response to almix12

Hi almix12,

I'm doing a similar process for my mac, reinstalling an older version of osx (mavericks). I have a question: Did it work for you to use a time machine backup from a newer osx (on mine it would be el capitan) to restore files once the the older OS is installed? I just want to make sure that Time Machine doesnt reinstall El Capitan once Mavericks is Loaded. Thank you

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Answer 9

Eric Root

Level 10

684,057 points

Apr 3, 2016 8:46 AM in response to driscollmv

Rerun Setup Assistant and you shouldn't reinstall El Capitan.

Setup Assistant – How to re-run

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